Protection
by melbelle310
Summary: "His arms are my home and oh god how I f***ing missed it." Fitzsimmons oneshot with hints of Huntingbird. Complete.


**Protection**

**Summary:** "His arms are my home and oh god how I f***ing missed it." Fitzsimmons oneshot with hints of Huntingbird. Complete.

**Author's Note:** I'm a big fan of Simmons, Skye and Bobbi as individual characters and I love the dynamics between them, so I wanted to play with all that. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D or any of its characters

"Knock, knock," Bobbi greeted, entering the lab in which Jemma worked with Skye by her side. Jemma looked up brightly from her work. She smiled when she recognized her new visitors.

"Bobbi!" she exclaimed. "And Skye! Just let me finish cataloging this sample."

"Take your time," Bobbi nodded. They watched patiently as Jemma made a few last notes on the stack of papers sitting on the lab table in front of her before she moved it delicately to a refrigerated unit a few stations away.

"So what can I do for you today, ladies?" Jemma asked.

"You can leave the lab for a little while and come to lunch with us," Skye replied. Jemma sighed.

"I wish I could, but with all these new samples," she began before Bobbi cut her off.

"You've been working on these nonstop for almost a week," Bobbi argued. "Even when the rest of us take a break, or grab a bite to eat, or close up shop for the night, you're still in here working. You've been avoiding us, and you skipped lunch yesterday." Jemma's eyes shot to Skye. The two girls had been planning to get lunch together as they usually did on Tuesdays, but Jemma had cancelled at the last minute.

"Jemma," Skye stepped in gently. "What's really keeping you in here?" Jemma bit her lip. "What's really going on?"

"Do you remember what we were like when you first joined the team?" Jemma asked, directing her question to Skye. "Fitz and I had barely been out in the field, so we stuck together. We had been 'Fitzsimmons' even before our first year at the academy, so it was only natural that we would keep working together. Then we had that first scare, when we thought that I was going to die – do you remember that case? Fitz barged into the lab while I was working on the antiserum, which was both the bravest and the stupidest thing I've ever seen him do." She paused. Bobbi and Skye took the opportunity to guide her to one of three stools clustered around one of the other lab tables, unused aside from when some of the techs needed a space to store extra materials during a test or experiment.

"A few weeks later, we were at the hub, and Fitz and Ward went on that mission with no extraction plan. I felt guilty when I found that out. I mean, he had been there beside me when I was in danger, but I couldn't do the same for him. You and May could get them out, but the best I could do was make him his favorite sandwich."

"You wanted to protect him from getting hurt," Bobbi inferred. Jemma shook her head.

"I did, but it's more than that. I don't think I really knew at the time how to look after myself without Fitz around. I started going to a special school for gifted students when I was 8 and already doing secondary-level maths, and that's where I first met Fitz. We grew up together, and then we started at the academy when we were 17. He always looked out for me, keeping me from cross-contaminating my samples and making sure that I didn't hole up in the lab on Friday nights," she explained.

"Protecting you," Skye summarized. Jemma nodded.

"When he got hurt," her voice broke, memories of the day flooding back to her. Bobbi reached out and patted her shoulder. When Jemma spoke again, her voice was softer and tenderer. "When he got hurt, I started to have to protect myself instead. There was no one to look out for me. When we were at the site of the city entrance a few weeks back and it started to collapse, my first instinct was to rush into his arms and hold on tight. It scared me to realize how much I had missed them," she admitted, a small, sad smile gracing her features.

"Like coming home after a long time away," Bobbi reminisced wistfully. Jemma and Skye turned to her.

"Is that why you've been all over Hunter lately?" Skye smirked. Jemma giggled, glad that the attention had temporarily turned away from her. Bobbi considered her next words carefully.

"Listen, all I'm saying is that sometimes, you get so used to having someone around that after you've been away from them for a while, it can feel like you're coming home. There's a familiarity there," Bobbi elaborated. "What you're feeling is normal, Jemma."

"But avoiding him is only going to make things more awkward," Skye pointed out, returning to their original conversation. Jemma shook her head. Bobbi watched quietly as her two companions argued. She realized that not only had she taken a liking to both Jemma and Skye, she had become fairly protective of them in both a personal and a professional capacity.

Bobbi had had her concerns when she learned that Jemma would be the undercover asset under her protection at Hydra's headquarters. The young scientist had nearly blown her cover twice during her initial intake interview, and then again on one of her first days working. Extracting Jemma had been relieving in a way – she could finally take a breath without looking over both their shoulders.

When they had finally arrived back on the bus, Bobbi had witnessed Jemma and Skye's initial joyful reunion. She had passed them sitting up late a few nights later, talking and laughing together under the watchful but unseen eye of May. Although she could often be stubborn and hotheaded, Skye was also hardworking and fiercely loyal, two qualities which Bobbi could instantly respect. She had taken to looking act for Skye just as she had looked out for Jemma. Sudden silence pulled Bobbi out of her thoughts.

"Fitz?" Jemma gasped, shock coating her face. He had appeared at the entrance to the lab without warning, moving into her line of sight and breaking her concentration. Skye was the first of the trio to recover her senses.

"Maybe you can talk some sense into her?" Skye requested, standing.

"She's barely left the lab all week," Bobbi added, following Skye's lead instinctively.

"I-I sh-shouldn't," Fitz stuttered, backing out of the lab slowly. He almost tripped before turning and dashing off, his head bowed low.

"Fitz, wait!" Simmons cried, running out after him. Skye's face lit up as she watched the chase, and she followed at as safe a distance as she could in the narrow, twisting corridors of the Playground. Bobbi hung back and was unsurprised when May joined her, following Bobbi's unbroken gaze down the hall.

"Did you tell her the story of you and Hunter?" May asked.

"Didn't have to," Bobbi replied. "Jemma and Fitz, then?"

"Took them long enough," May smirked. Hunter joined them. "Looks like you two are no longer the newest couple on the bus," she added before she walked away.

"How does she know?" Hunter hissed. Bobbi shook her head. She certainly hadn't married him for his intuition.

"Do you want the 'the whole bus knows' version of that response or the 'May knows all' version?" Bobbi joked. Hunter laughed despite his nerves. "Freaking out yet?"

"With you here? Not a chance." Bobbi let Hunter wrap his arms around her waist in the privacy of the otherwise empty lab, relishing in the comfort of his embrace. What she had said to Jemma, she recognized, had more to do with her and Hunter than she wanted to admit. No matter how much time she spent away from him, she always felt like she could come home to the safety and protection of his arms.

**Author's Note:** Hope you enjoyed it – feel free to leave a review!


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